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Explore articles about over-the-board chess, community building, and improving your game

• Social Chess Clubs in 2026: A Data Report (2026-10-23): Data on 290 social chess clubs: most started since 2023, meet weekly on Tuesday or Wednesday at 18:00 or 19:00, often in a bar. 10 charts to reuse.
• Chess Tournament Software Compared: 12 Tools (2026-10-22): Chess tournament software compared: Swiss-Manager, Vega, SwissSys, WinTD, Swiss-Chess, Tornelo, apps and more. Prices, pairing systems, rated reports.
• Chess.com vs Lichess for Over-the-Board Chess (2026-10-21): Chess.com vs Lichess for over-the-board chess: price, clocks, ratings and clubs compared, and where Checkmate IRL fits. Free on iOS and Android.
• Chess in Montreal: Clubs, a Chess Café & Where to Play (2026-10-20): Where to play chess in Montreal: BB Chess Club & Café, free bar blitz nights, clubs, park tables and the city where Lasker won the 1894 world title.
• How to Use a Chess Clock: Rules, Increment vs Delay (2026-10-19): How a chess clock works, the FIDE rules with article numbers, what 5+3 and 90+30 mean, increment vs delay, and how to set a DGT 2010 step by step.
• Chess in Cologne: Clubs, Bars & Where to Play (2026-10-16): Where to play chess in Cologne: 5 clubs with weekly nights, the Lasker club from 1861, SG Porz, the Sonic Chess Club and the city's giant boards.
• Chess in Kansas City: Clubs, a Chess Park & Where to Play (2026-10-15): Where to play chess in Kansas City: the 1895 club, Westport's Tuesday bar night since 1986 and the new chess park on the Rock Island Bridge.
• Chess in Melbourne: Clubs, Rooftop Bars & Where to Play (2026-10-14): Where to play chess in Melbourne: the 1866 club's free Wednesday night, rooftop bar chess, library drop-ins and the State Library's stone boards.
• Chess in Madrid: Clubs, a Chess Bar & Where to Play (2026-10-13): Where to play chess in Madrid: Gambit Café in Malasaña, free blitz at La Didáctica since 1927, a bilingual meetup and an outdoor chess park.
• Chess.com Rating vs FIDE: Why the Numbers Don't Match (2026-10-12): No official conversion exists. See how Chess.com, Lichess and FIDE ratings compare, what OTB means and which rating is good, with July 2026 data.
• How to Start a Chess Club or Chess Night (2026-10-10): Start a chess night at a bar or café, or a federation club: venue, weekly slot, equipment costs, Swiss pairing tools and how to keep players coming.
• Chess in Prague: Bars, Cafés, Clubs & Where to Play (2026-10-09): Where to play chess in Prague: a chess café in Karlín, a Thursday rapid in a Žižkov bar, open clubs, and the city where Wilhelm Steinitz was born.
• Your First Chess Tournament: Find, Enter and Play (2026-10-08): Find and enter your first chess tournament: no rating needed, what it costs, and the FIDE rules that matter on the day. Read before you sign up.
• Chess Hustlers: How the Money Works and Where to Play (2026-10-07): Chess hustlers play strangers for $5 to $10 a game, mostly 5-minute blitz. How the money works, how to play one, and where to find them in New York.
• Joining a Chess Club as an Adult: Costs & First Night (2026-10-06): What chess clubs cost in England, the US and Germany, what a first club night is like, what you need to bring, and which etiquette is rule or custom.
• Over-the-Board Chess Rules for Online Players (2026-10-05): Moving from Chess.com or Lichess to a board? Touch-move, castling, promotion, draw claims and illegal-move penalties under the FIDE Laws.
• Chess in Budapest: Clubs, Parks, Baths & Where to Play (2026-10-02): Where to play chess in Budapest: the Széchenyi baths, City Park's stone tables, club nights and norm tournaments, in the city of the Polgár sisters.
• How to Fill In a Chess Scoresheet (Free Printable) (2026-10-01): Fill in a chess scoresheet the FIDE way: header fields, algebraic notation, castling, draw offers and the result. Download our free A4 or Letter PDF.
• Chess in Kraków: Clubs, Pub Nights & Where to Play (2026-09-29): Where to play chess in Kraków: a free Thursday night at Bikershot Pub, stone tables below Wawel Castle, a club from 1893 and the Cracovia festival.
• The 4 Chess Apps Every Player Needs (You Have 3) (2026-09-25): Chess.com to play online, Lichess to analyze, Chessable to learn. The fourth app is the one for the chess you play over the board.
• Chess in Warsaw: Clubs, Cafés, Parks & Where to Play (2026-09-22): Where to play chess in Warsaw: a Saturday chess social, a 10 zł Thursday rapid at the federation, café sessions, park tables and the story of 1935.
• Chess Bars & Chess Cafés: Where to Play, City by City (2026-09-18): Chess bars and chess cafés that are open now: Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Athens, Bangkok and more, with addresses and costs.
• Chess in Hamburg: Clubs, Cafés & Where to Play (2026-08-14): Where to play chess in Hamburg: the HSK 1830, Magnus Carlsen at FC St. Pauli, a chess café in an old S-Bahn station, and park boards across the city.
• Chess in Copenhagen: Cafés, Clubs & Where to Play (2026-08-07): Where to play chess in Copenhagen: board game cafés, cozy clubs, outdoor tables, and the city of Bent Larsen and the Immortal Zugzwang Game.
• Outdoor Chess: Parks, Giant Boards & Where to Play (2026-07-31): Where to play chess outdoors: the world's great park chess spots, giant boards, hustler etiquette, and how to find a table near you.
• Social Chess Clubs Are Exploding | Checkmate IRL (2026-07-25): Chess nights with DJs are filling bars from London to Beijing. Why the format works, the clubs I've visited, and a directory of social chess clubs worldwide.
• How to Start Playing Chess in Real Life (2026-06-12): You learned chess online. Here is how to start playing over the board: cafés, parks, bars, and clubs, plus what to expect at your first in-person game.
• Best Chess Clock Apps Compared (and Physical Clocks) (2026-06-05): 8 chess clock apps compared on time controls, ads and whether they save your games, plus when you still need a physical clock like the DGT 3000.
• Chess in Los Angeles: Beaches, Clubs & Where to Play (2026-05-29): Where to play chess in Los Angeles: the Santa Monica beachfront, outdoor boards, clubs, and the Hollywood chess history from Bogart to the Piatigorsky Cup.
• Chess in St. Louis: Chess Capital & Where to Play (2026-05-25): Where to play chess in St. Louis, the Chess Capital of America: the Saint Louis Chess Club, the World Chess Hall of Fame, board-game bars, and park tables.
• Chess in Amsterdam: Clubs, Cafés & Where to Play (2026-05-22): Where to play chess in Amsterdam: the Frederiksplein giant board, giant boards across the city, the Max Euwe museum, cafés, and the oldest Dutch club.
• Chess in Vienna: Coffeehouses, Parks & Where to Play (2026-05-18): Where to play chess in Vienna: historic coffeehouses, giant outdoor boards across the city, active clubs, and the home of the first world champion.
• Chess in Paris: Cafés, Outdoor Tables & Where to Play (2026-05-15): Where to play chess in Paris. From Café de la Régence to Blitz Society, Luxembourg Gardens chess tables, and the city's chess boxing scene.
• Chess in Munich: Clubs, Cafés & Where to Play (2026-03-20): Discover chess venues in Munich. From Bavaria's oldest sports club to giant outdoor boards in Schwabing. The complete guide to playing chess in Munich.
• AI Didn't Kill Chess. It Created the Biggest Boom in History. (2026-03-20): Computers beat humans at chess 30 years ago. The game should be dying. Instead 250 million play on one platform. How AI fueled chess's biggest boom.
• Chess in Cape Town: Clubs & Where to Play (2026-02-14): Discover where to play chess in Cape Town: from chess clubs and cafés to outdoor games with Table Mountain views. Your guide to Cape Town's growing chess scene.
• Chess in London: Clubs, Pubs, Parks & Where to Play (2026-02-12): The complete guide to chess in London. From the Knight Club pulling 300 people to pub chess in Brick Lane. Venues, history, weekly calendar.
• Where to Play Chess in NYC: Parks, Clubs & Chess Bars (2026-01-31): Washington Square hustlers, the Marshall Chess Club, Chess Forum, free Saturday meetups at Pier 57 and Brooklyn bar nights: 40+ NYC spots by area, with hours.
• Chess in Berlin: Cafés, Clubs, Parks & Where to Play (2026-01-18): The complete guide to chess in Berlin. 40+ venues from Kreuzberg cafés to Mauerpark outdoor boards. Where to play every day of the week.
• Chess Is Booming. Where Are the Boards? | Checkmate IRL (2025-11-13): 600 million people play chess online. Where are the in-person boards? Here's why OTB chess is harder to find, and what we're building to fix it.

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